Broken Bits!

So this is how it goes, when working on a boat: You decide which job to start first, you get the tools out needed for the job, and set about deconstructing the 'said job' in preparation for the "repair"… You already have a time frame in mind for how long it will take to complete, anything from 10 minutes to an hour, but whatever you decide (or rather hope) it will be, you secretly know it will actually take much longer. To start with the 'said' thing won't come apart, when it finally does, after much bashing, teasing, cussing swearing and throwing of one's toys around, something breaks, or, as in the case of working on a boat, the said thing/part falls overboard into the ocean, lost to the fishes forever. This is followed by much more cussing, swearing, and toys continue to fly through the air. This small headache/disaster is then shortly followed by many frantic calls to whatever dealer, distributorship or supply store that can be located within a reachable distance from wherever we happen to be at the time. "OH yes" is their immediate response, "no problem, we can get that for you, but, OH wait, it has to be ordered from the mainland,and special shipped here, probably 5 or 6 weeks, and it's going to be X- hundred dollars, much more than you know it would be on the mainland, a $5 part can sell for $50- $100 in the islands). At which point we say 'OK" because we have no choice, as they well know. However, this is only the beginning of the sad saga of the shipped parts, because once the said part/parts arrives in whatever corner of the globe we happen to be currently marooned in, it's then held up by customs, because they also want their share of the pie. You then have to pay a "customs service charge" which is bizaar as they haven't provided a service, but you are helpless, so you pay up, and end up spending hundreds of dollars, hours and hours of wasted time, and much frustration all for a $5, 5 minute fix (anywhere else in the world)..